If you want an easy way to share a drive with all of the computers and devices in your home, take a look at your router. If you have a relatively modern router, chances are it has a USB port built into it. Here’s a look at how to set it up and share content across your home network.

Note: Keep in mind that some steps will vary depending on the type of router you have, but the process is the same. Also, make sure to check your router documentation to see if there are any storage restrictions. I recommend using a new drive or a freshly formatted one, but if you have files on a drive already that you want to share, you can just plug that in and not have to format it.

Share USB Drive from Wi-Fi Router

Pick the hard drive or flash drive that you want to use – you can use external or portable hard drives too – anything with a USB connection. For this, I am using a Linksys E4200 Dual-Band Wi-Fi router and a 64GB flash drive.

Pop it into the USB port on the back of your Wi-Fi router, and then you’ll need admin access to your router. From a computer on your network, open the browser enter your router’s IP into a browser and enter your password; these will be the IP and password you used when initially setting up your Wi-Fi router.

Then in the router’s settings, look for drive storage, file sharing, or something similar. You can see in my example below that the drive is recognized and there are different options for the drive available, including creating a share.

You can use your Wi-Fi router to create a network share of the folder if that function is available, but I prefer to use Windows. The steps in this article will work for everyone, no matter what brand of router, or computer experience level.

Open the Network folder and clear the path in File Explorer and replace it with “\\routerip” For example, I would type in: \\192.168.1.1and hit Enter.

After hitting Enter, your drive will show up in the File Explorer as a shared folder with the name you gave it earlier. From here you might want to pin it to Start in Windows 8.x or just create a shortcut to it on the desktop.

If you want to access that drive from other computers on your network, you’ll want to map it as a network drive. That’s what I am doing with the shot below – mapping it as a drive on a Windows 7 system.

You can use the drive connected to your Wi-Fi router just like you would any drive. This process is a good solution if you have a family situation and want to share music, videos, and photos with everyone else.

Do keep in mind that this drive will be open to everyone in your household, so you don’t want to store any confidential or otherwise sensitive files on it.

The performance will vary based on several factors: your router, network traffic, file size, etc. If you have a new router with a USB 3.0 port, you’ll want to use a USB 3.0 compatible as well for best performance.

If you’re looking for a new Gigabit router that has USB 3.0 capability, here are a couple of affordable ones you might want to consider:

hi brian, when I try to edit inside the hard drive (as you would for any personal drive). Error says “You need permission to perform this action”.
How can I change any settings so I can use it, as if it was physically connected to my PComputer ?

Brian, good to see this. It is very helpful. My wifi router has no usb port but 4 LAN port. Can I share my external USB Hard drive any way? Is there any port available to connect LAN to USB to perform like this?

I have connected the drive successfully and mapped it to a drive letter, but I’m unable to create folders. I’ve tried changing the permissions, but it just won’t allow me even though I’m admin. I’ve tried changing security settings in the right click menu, but no dice. Have you any tips?

Folks If your router does not have a USB adaptor then it will not work as the firmware will not handle it. Plug any adaptor in you like and it still won’t work.Spend the $$ and buy a new router that has USB.

Thanks, Brian! I just referenced your helpful article in my review of a TRENDnet router on Amazon. The router in question has two USB ports and grandpa here has no clue what he’s doing (in general!), but your article enabled me to get a Win 10 PC connected to an external drive connected to that router in under 2 minutes, with shortcuts to the connected drives on the desktop.
Very groovy indeed!

My Zyxel fr1000r router from CenturyLink won’t recognize flash drive in USB port nor does the indicator light on the flash drive illuminate. Is it possible a flash drive won’t work on CenturyLink’s router from Zyxel? I can’t find any settings for storage or USB devices nor does the flash drive show up in the Device Table.

I believe ur problem is the port on ur router is not active, per something on CenturyLinks documentation I read last night. It says it will be active in future firmware releases, which explains why u have no options in the software user interface.

I found this out as I tried to connect my external hard drive as well. So I am now looking for a new router compatible with CL DSL.

I have a ZTE router H168N with USB port .
Please could you tell me what should I enable in the router to have the possibility to share the Disk ? I cannot find
I`m trying to access it from MAC and W7 and in both cases I can access it via ftp .
but cannot access with the Go connect to a server in MAC or the Map network drive in W7
Thanks

Folks, any experience with the lifetime of the USB storage that will be continuously “under power”?
I have mentioned Asus N66U router and I want connect WD My Passport 2 TB disk to store movies, which will streamed by built-in ASUS DLNA server to my OPPO bluray player connected to my home cinema.
But I’m wondering if the “non NAS” storage can stand for continuous operation 24×7 connected to the router or if burns down after 1 or 2 years…
any experience? thanks

hi brian, when I try to edit inside the hard drive (as you would for any personal drive). Error says “You need permission to perform this action”.
How can I change any settings so I can use it, as if it was physically connected to my PComputer ?

So I got my USB 3 hard drive connected to my Assu router. I see it with my iphones, pc, iPads.
I can download no problem. But upload to my HD can only be done with a pc. is there a way to upload/send pics with my iPhone? I want to empty my iPhone and not have to go thru iTunes.